House Proud

Hello Friends,

Happy Autumn!

With fall approaching and children returning to school, it's time to think about a deep cleaning in our homes. I do a deep cleaning in my home twice a year fall and spring. Clean out from underneath beds, dressers, sofa's and large appliances. Start by dusting down furniture with a rag and furniture polish instead of a feather duster.  Take down curtains and dry clean or wash them. Then follow up with vacuuming and washing floors.  I clean in and under everything that I have not touched previously. Hit the refrigerator with a blast of Lysol disinfectant cleaner and ditch the leftover condiments sitting longer than 6 months.  Pay very close attention to all the details. For instance, the kitchen cabinets. You can't see it but it's there, a very slight film of grease that you get from cooking.  Use a mixture of water and ammonia to get the grease off the cabinets, then wipe dry.  Clean inside drawers and cabinets, and add new drawer liners. This can be done once per year if you choose. Wipe down ceiling fans and wash glass globes as well as the blades.  Have carpeted areas steam cleaned by a professional too. It takes away all the allergens that have made home in our rugs. This will also keep our wall to wall carpets looking their best over time. Keeping our homes clean and free of debris is one way we show the love we have for our families and ourselves. Take care of your biggest asset and it will take care of you.

 Try these tips for cleaning other areas in your home:

- Salt and lemon juice gets stuck on stuff off pot bottoms. The acid in the lemon mixed with the salt can give them a new glow. ***Never use this on non-stick pots.

- Use a steam mop to kill germs on hard wood floors. I usually mop my hardwood floors with boiling hot black tea. But in a rush I will go for the steam mop which does the same job with quicker drying time.

- Dont forget closets. Reorganize linen and clothes closets to make every item is easy to find. Then place natural cedar planks in them to keep fabric loving bugs out. In addition to adding cedar planks, I made lavender sachet's and hung them on every third hanger to help keep my closet smelling fresh. Men would prefer tea tree scent or clove over lavender. Clove sachet's can easily be made with whole cloves from the spice rack. *Tip:  I place my top, fitted and one pillow case of sheet set inside one of the matching pillow cases to keep the set together and easy to find in my closet. Each sheet set is then neatly stacked in my closet. :)

- Use a stiff brush to remove dust from lamp shades, and free standing fans. Then place them out on the sun for an hour to kill any dust mites before replacing them on lamps. Same goes for silk flowers.

-  A big must.... vacuum then hang large area rugs outside in the sun for one hour. They will smell better and dust mites are irradiated. Wash smaller area rugs then hang to dry instead of simply shaking the out.   :)  There is nothing better than sunlight and a little time to freshen up items that can't be washed.

Finally, make it a habit to deep clean at least two times per year. Put it on your calendar and stick to it. More frequent deep cleaning is best, but with work and family requiring most of our time twice per year is good enough.  I love doing this in chunks so that it does not so overwhelming. Choose a chunk of time to do a few things and finish them before moving on to the next. You will be happy with the outcome. If you hire a professional to do your cleaning, make certain they use good products and follow your instruction precisely. Cutting corners is not ok. Inspect everything before paying the bill.

One final word before I say goodbye, don't forget the exterior of your home. You can buy siding wash from home improvement stores or hire a professional  to do your windows and siding all at once.

Love and hugs,
Suz

Cost of Living

Dear Friends:

Over this past few weeks I have been sprucing up my home by painting and cleaning. I have posted all along mentioning my adventures and my discoveries. I have a good life. I have good solid assets. My house for one, a reliable car, good furniture and dependable appliances. I follow the belief that if I "take good care of my assets, my assets will take care of me" so to speak.  Investing in quality has proven that to me over time.  If I buy that needed item and know I will need it for years to come, then cost may not totally be a factor.  There are few really great things that are cheap. Sometimes its better to hire a professional to do the work and other times I can do the work.  Like painting or cleaning.
The things I do are in a certain order and done from start to finish before starting another project.  This saves me from wasting money on items that I think I might need and will never use, save me time and effort because there is a specific start and end, and it keeps me from feeling stressed out by the unfinished mess in my home.  I have great discipline when it comes to projects and time management.  Skills I learned when I owned my own business.  I do not like unfinished things like business with a person, big projects, and so on.  I personally find it appealing to see the completed job so I can then make changes or sit back and reap the rewards.

All the things we do to protect our assets and still the cost of living keeps going up yet somehow we still continue on living life and making our dollars stretch. With rising costs in, well, everything taking care of my home and saving for my future have become more of a challenge than before. Its funny I heard my parents saying this same things in the 70's and 80's.  Still I am surprised at the low wages being paid and rising cost of so many of our everyday necessities.  It seems that everyday I hear of companies eliminating jobs and squeezing the existing workers to do multiple jobs under one job title.
Well, because of constant uncertainty in my earnings level, I have learned how to "play the rules".  Not break the law or get government handouts. Just play the rules. To clarify I will attempt to journal what I buy, what is deductible and what I can make myself.  I can deduct certain things from my taxes like medicines as we all know but did you know it is not limited to medicine?  Medical expenses are not just doctor visits and RX, Its the miles traveled to get such medical attention, (medical milage) and the out of pocket expenses you incur as a result of the diagnosis, like bandages, alcohol and, medication not covered by insurance and so forth.  In the following posts, I will show you just how much you can save if you know how. This is what I am talking about.  I don't presume to know everything, but I have a clue and am I always open to learning more.

Keeping it simple.

Peace,
Suz

Before you hire that painter read this

Good Morning:

I have been working on my home for several weeks now.  We are cleaning and purging what we don't want. This all started when I decided to make our lives more comfortable and relaxed. Along with cleaning I decided we need to paint our moldings in the house. Looking to hire a painter and exploring the cost vs. my time, I decided I could paint the interior trim one room at a time. I bought paint and planned to go over all the trim room by room. While cleaning the bathroom floor today I was thinking while cleaning like I always do (It's kind of like meditation for me) my mind wandered to a line in the film Bruce Almighty where Morgan Freeman (who plays God beautifully) says to Bruce (played by Jim Carey) "life can be messy, but you can always clean it up".  While on my hands and knees cleaning the floor I wiped over the moulding with my sponge revealing fresh white paint. I thought it was chipped paint but turns out dusting I do didn't remove all the dirt. I did all the trim in the bathroom with vinegar and water solution which I mixed with citrus cleaner, and the moulding looks new.  Whoever painted my bathroom used high gloss oil based paint and it really has held up. I'm scrubbing down all the trim now in the house noticing only some areas need painting. This is saving my self a lot of work, and money. I can return some of the paint which I never opened, and I feel content with the job being completed.  Well almost. I still have some trim to paint that is in fact chipped but it's only one or two areas!

Peace and Joy to all
Suz

Garden Delight

Morning All:

I am still working on my garden. I have learned that too many plants are no good. I have no room for the flats I bought. I gave 24 plants to my neighborhood friends and they loved my generosity. So glad to have such great friends in the neighborhood. A true blessing. I am certain God placed me in this house so I could have good happy life with my family here in Howell.  Now to change one or two more significant things in my life.  Then I will truly be fulfilled.

I have now planted lima and butternut squash seeds in small pots to see if they will flourish. Its been rainy and cloudy so I am hoping that this will aid in their growth. I am going to plant nothing but edibles this year. I have one or two hanging flower baskets and that is it. Alll my window boxes will be filled with edibles like lettuce and strawberries.

It seems my husband has caught the gardening bug as well. He frequently helps me turn the dirt and does the heavier work for me. He stated "Im not a farmer" but still he helps. He also enjoys my babbling on about the things that are edible in our lawn and in the woods behind our house. I love his attentiveness. :)

Soon we will be in full summer mode. I would love to have a yard that was vacation getaway like. But spending the money on such a yard is not something I want to do. I am too frugal to do all that it takes to do the yard right. We are quite happy for now. I cannot wait for the veggie harvest. I am hopeful I can maintain it through the fall to harvest as much as possible.

Time to head off to work.

Blessings to all